OpenFeint 2.1 to Increase Viral Reach of iPhone Games
Author: editor | Filed under: games
One of the competitors in the race to make iPhone gaming more like social gaming on the Web is Aurora Feint, Inc., publishers of the OpenFeint social platform. Quietly launched in beta in February, OpenFeint is an API that can be integrated into any iPhone game to let users create profiles, publish status updates, and open real-time chat rooms. Now that iPhone OS 3.0 is live, Aurora Feint, Inc., has announced a OpenFeint 2.1, a new API that integrates support for both microtransactions and push notifications into the social platform.
Somewhat similar to Scoreloop, OpenFeint’s big selling point for iPhone developers is saving manpower and server costs. OpenFeint’s developers claim that an integration takes less than two hours and saves developers the two months of coding effort it would take to duplicate its features. By integrating microtransaction and push notification support, OpenFeint 2.1 lets developers implement these important new features without having to do any sort of server work themselves. Right now OpenFeint 2.1 is in beta testing with select developers while OpenFeint 2.0 is generally available and supported by about 250 apps.
Push notifications in OpenFeint 2.1 will be used to implement a feature called Social Challenges. This lets a user play a particular game and then challenge one of his or her OpenFeint network friends to best their high score. The friend who received the challenge can then compete against it, send back the result, and send a new challenge. The idea of the Social Challenges is to help draw out the life of the game by adding a social multiplayer aspect. The OpenFeint platform handles all of the server and communications support required to send out the push notifications and also provides UIs that developers can use out of the box or customize.
Microtransaction support in OpenFeint 2.1 will revolve around allowing users to quickly purchase any digital content required to compete in a Social Challenge issued by another player. This applies primarily to extra DLC game content but there’s no reason why it couldn’t include purchase of virtual goods in certain games. When a microtransaction is required for a friend to compete in a Social Challenge, then a button will appear in the push notification announcing the challenge that will let the recipient make the purchase with a single click.
Tags: OpenFeint, OpenFeint 2.1 to Increase Viral Reach of iPhone Games
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